East side neighbors sick of mess at one man’s home

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Dozens and dozens of mattresses and box springs are stacked up 10 feet high outside the garage at a home in the 1500 block of Gale Street on Indianapolis’ east side. The backyard is also filled with trash and neighbors say, they’ve had enough.

“I’m sure there’s probably rodents that are living in there and Lord knows what else,” said neighbor Wade Means.

Neighbors said the mattresses are not only a health threat, but a fire hazard, especially since several abandoned homes in the area have been set fire recently.

“If someone were to come by and just throw a cigarette out it could cause that house my house and surrounding houses to be caught on fire,” said neighbor Emily Lotz.

Fox59 knocked on the door of the home, but we were told the property owner was not available.

Lotz said the condition outside the home makes their skin crawl.

“It does crawl. It’s awful. You shouldn’t have to live in a neighborhood where there is something like that you should wanna live somewhere where it’s clean,” said Lotz.

The Marion County Health Department said the property is in violation and the owner has a week to clean up the mess themselves or they will face fines and penalties.

Neighbors said the man is stripping the metal out of the bedding and is selling it for scrap.

14 comments

Randall

soundguyrob

Not sure what's worse, the spelling error or the thought of someone tearing up used mattresses and expecting someone else (the City) to clean up the mess. They probably yield about $1.25 in "Medal" per mattress?

jenny

i dont understand the whole reason behind putting any random persons house on the news,the same goes for fires,accidents and etc,it is unwanted negative attention brought on by people getting paid to publesize other peoples lives,i do have to agree with having the mess cleaned up,but i do not agree with people getting paid to exploit other people.

Nobody Important

Maybe he can't work, you ever think of that? A lot of disabled people collect metal to sell. I'm disabled & raising my teenage son on $1600 a month social security disability. Could you live on that? We don't receive food stamps or any public assistance. In the past 3 years, my benefit amount increased a total of $30 a month, but the cost of gas & food has increased by that much a week! If I could collect & sell scrap metal to supplement my income, I would.

I agree he needs to keep his property cleaned up, but how about a little compassion? You don't know his situation nor do you know what might happen to yourself in the future. All it takes is one random person being careless to ruin your life. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Ann

I understand there are FEW legitimate cases like yourself who truly need the help. Unfortunately a lot more people are just plain lazy and CHOOSE to sit on their ass and collect welfare and food stamps. So while I don't know his situation most likely he is one of those cases. I mean if he can't even get off his ass to clean up his own disgusting mess he probably does not get up to go anything productive